A scruffy fixie rider with no gears or brakes on his bike combined with a proper long distance cyclist who rides 300km for fun.
By every measure, they were opposites. He rode for the moment, she rode for the distance. He chased the thrill, she chased the horizon.
But somewhere between his spontaneity and her discipline, they found a rhythm. What started as a shared love of biking became something deeper, two riders learning to match pace, slow down, speed up, and ride side by side.
On our second date, we rode our bikes to retrieve her dragonboating paddle, and on the ride back the sun was setting and it looked beautiful. When I recorded it, I caught her looking at me and it just hit me - she's the one.
We explored Lisbon, then went south to hike along the coastal Fishermen’s Trail.
There was camping and unplanned detours.
One of the places we wanted to see was a Portuguese tile museum in Estremoz, a small town in the east.
It’s a small town that felt way different than the rest of the country. I felt like this was the perfect spot. We explored the museum and I was trying to figure out when and where to do it.
I hatched a plan - when we were done exploring the museum, we'll go to the park across the street and I'll get down on one knee and propose.
I was huffing and puffing trying to get ready - she didn't suspect a thing because I'm a heavy breather.
When we finished the museum Kristin reminded me that we should probably book it to the next camp site before the sun sets - it gets pretty dark and some of the camp sites are a bit hard to find.
Sounds good - ok time for plan B... we drive for a bit and end up at a campsite on the Tagus River. While we're winding down for the day I asked Kristin if she wanted to see the photos I took. I surprised her with the video of me showing the engagement ring.
I told her something along the lines of: